8A NEWS
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
HURSDAY, OCTOBER 29, 2009
INTERNATIONAL
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Afghan policemen carry a wounded U.N. staffer from a U.N. guest house after it was attacked by gunmen Wednesday in Kabul, Afghanistan. Gunmen attacked a guest house used by U.N. staff in the Afghan capital of Kabul early Wednesday, officials said. A Taliban spokesman claimed responsibility, saying it was meant as an assault on the upcoming presidential election.
Man defends house with AK-47 U.N. election workers escape Taliban attack in Afghanistan
BY HAMZA HENDAWI
Associated Press
KABUL — Armed with an AK-47,
an American contract worker said
Wednesday he held off militants
attacking a guest house in Kabul,
allowing about two dozen U.N. election
workers to escape.
John Christopher "Chris" Turner, a trucker from Kansas City, Mo., described opening fire at the assaultants as the guests he was protecting huddled in a laundry room at the back of the building.
"I am armed. I carry an AK-47 and I kept firing it to keep the attackers away from the group I was guarding," he said, describing how he shot from the entrance of the laundry room. The group later jumped over a back wall to take refuge in a house behind the guest house, he said.
It was not possible to reach others
who had been staying at the guest house to verify Turner's account. They were being evacuated to Dubai for counseling, the U.N. said. Turner did not have a weapon when he spoke with an Associated Press reporter.
About 40 people were at the Bakhtar guest house in the heart of the Afghan capital during the dawn attack. The Taliban has claimed responsibility.
Eleven people died in the attack, including five U.N. staff and three gunmen in police uniforms.
Turner, 62, called his father in suburban Kansas City after the attack, 82-year-old Lionel Turner told the AP.
"He said he was burned a little, but that he wasn't hurt," the father said. "Hes got more guts than a Missouri mule."
Turner returned to the guest house hours after the attack to collect his
personal belongings. He emerged from the fire-gutted, three-story building with a black chest packed with clothes and other personal belongings.
He told reporters that he was a trucking contractor hired by the U.S. Department of Defense.
Turner said the attackers appeared well organized and were able to penetrate the building, located on a residential street.
Two men jumped out of the guest house and broke their legs and that a fire engulfed much of the building during a two-hour gunbattle between the assailants and Afghan policemen, Turner said.
Turner said he ran upstairs knocking at doors to rouse the residents and that he and the 25 with him locked themselves in the laundry room before they thought it was safe enough to jump the back wall.
ECONOMY
Recovery still on the way for housing, employment
BY ALAN ZIBEL Associated Press
A new development of townhouses is seen in Wakefield, Mass. Sales of new homes dropped unexpectedly last month as the effects of a soon-to-expire tax credit for first-time owners started to wane.
September orders to factories for big-ticket manufactured goods rose 1 percent last month — not
WASHINGTON — The Great Recession may be over, but the recovery is just beginning, and it's doesn't promise to be easier.
That may be happening in the manufacturing sector, which has also been pumped up by government building projects.
Economists forecast the nation's total output grew at an annual rate of 3.3 percent between July and September, after contracting for a record four straight quarters. That growth has been fueled by a huge influx of government cash, including a temporary tax credit for first-time homeowners and a $1.25 trillion Federal Reserve program to keep mortgage rates low.
Both efforts are likely to end by next summer, and the housing industry is already feeling it. New home sales in September unexpectedly fell 3.6 percent, the first decline since March and a distinct sign of weakness in a market that had rebounded strongly over the summer.
Homebuilders are traditionally big employers, but the industry isn't hiring yet because there's a glut of homes on the market. There were 251,000 new homes for sale at the end of September, or about 7.5 months' supply at the current sales pace. That's about two months too much.
While the unemployment rate fell slightly in most metro areas in September, the trend was fueled by discouraged job seekers leaving the work force, according to government data released Wednesday. The rate fell in 223 of 380 metros, or almost 60 percent. The jobless rate rose in 123 areas, and was unchanged in 34.
"The job market is not recovering at all yet," said Jim Diffley, regional economist for IHS Global Insight. "We're looking at another jobless recovery."
a huge increase but an improvement from a 2.6 percent drop in August, the government reported Wednesday.
Demand for machinery offset weakness in commercial aircraft and autos.
That report, however, was not enough to distract investors from the disappointing unemployment and housing reports.
Stocks fell Wednesday with the Dow Jones industrial average
down 119 points,
or 1.2 percent, to
9.805.01
Shares of homebuilders also tumbled. Hovnanian Enterprises Inc. led the way, falling 3.9 percent, or 41 cents, to $3.89.
The drop in new home sales could help lobbying campaigns by real estate agents and homebuilders who want Congress to extend the tax credit of up to $8,000 for first-time buyers.
"Seeing a number like this today, I think a lot of lawmakers will be pounding their fists on the table" arguing to extend the credit, said Jennifer Lee, an economist with BMO Capital Markets.
Senators agreed Wednesday to extend the tax credit until June 30.
"The job market is not recovering at all yet. We're looking at another jobless recovery."
as long as buyers sign sales agreements by April 30.
JIM DIFFLEY Economist
Lawmakers were considering adding a credit for home buyers who already own homes, perhaps allowing up to $6,500 for people who have been in their current home at least five years. Details were still being negotiated.
Critics, however, say many buyers would have made their purchases anyway and call the government incentives an unnecessary
And extending tax credit may have a limited affect, they say.
subsidy for people who don't need it.
"Most people who receive the tax credit are people who would have bought a house anyway," said Ted Gaver, an economist at the Brookings Institution. "That's a big windfall at taxpayers' expense."
New home sales fell to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 402,000 from a downwardly revised 417,000 in August. Economists surveyed by Thomson Reuters had expected a pace of 440,000.
However, they are still up 22 percent from the bottom in January, and analysts don't expect them to recede too far.
INTERNATIONAL
Questioning election declared crime
BY ALI AKBAR DAREINI
Associated Press
TEHRAN, Iran — Iran's supreme leader said Wednesday that questioning the results of Iran's June presidential election was a crime, his strongest warning yet to opposition leaders who continue to insist the vote was rigged.
Ayatolah Ali Khamenei, who has the final say on all state matters in Iran, did not go so far as to order the arrest of those leaders, as called for by hard-liners, but his words signaled the government could take stronger action if the criticism continues.
"The day after the election, some people, without logic or reason, called the glorious election a lie," state TV quoted Khamenei as saying.
He said questioning the election was "the biggest crime."
Opposition leader Mir Hosein Mousavi has said President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad stole the June 12 election from him through massive vote fraud. Hundreds of thousands of protesters poured
into the streets in the days after the vote, prompting the government to stage a violent crackdown.
Although the street protests died down months ago, Mousavi and other leading opposition figures, including fellow presidential candidate Mahdi Karroubi and former President Mohamad Khatami, have refused to silence their protests.
Khamenei said he sent private messages to those who continue to question the election telling them they may not be able to control the future direction of events — an implied threat of additional government action if they fail to
"The day after the election, some people, without logic or reason, called the glorious election a lie."
AYATOLLAH ALI
KHAMENEI,
Supreme leader of Iran
The simmering post-election unrest has received less international attention in recent weeks, overshadowed by speculation about whether Iran will accept a U.N.-drafted plan to ship most of its low-enriched uranium to Russia for further enrichment.
of arrests and multiple deaths. The government has confirmed 30 people were killed, while the opposition says the 72 died.
cease their activities. He did not name specific individuals.
The supreme leader has supported Ahmadinejad throughout the election crisis, including during the subsequent crackdown that resulted in hundreds
Iran will deliver its response to the U.N. on Thursday, almost a week after the West had hoped to secure Tehran's approval, according to the semiofficial Mehr news agency.
Iran needs the fuel for a research reactor that makes medical isotopes.
But it appears Iran wants to modify the deal to send its uranium stockpipe out of the country in multiple batches rather than the big single shipment envisioned by the agreement — a change opposed by the West.
"Should we accept the option of sending uranium in return for fuel, we need to ship out a small part of it," the official Islamic Republic News Agency quoted lawmaker Hossein Ebrahimi as saying Wednesday.
"Should the other party remain committed to its obligations, this gradual trend will continue. We should not empty our uranium storehouses," said Ebrahimi.
Western powers say it's critical for Iran to send out at least 70 percent of its uranium store in one load as envisioned by the draft agreement to eliminate at least temporarily — its options to make a nuclear weapon. Iran insists its nuclear program is peaceful.
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